Special Immigrant Juvenile Visas (SIJS)

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”) is a mechanism for obtaining legal status for certain “unaccompanied minors” in the United States.  “Unaccompanied minors” do not have parents with them or some cases, only one (1) parent may be absent.  Typically, an appropriate application is filed when a child comes to in the United States as a refugee,  loses a parent through death or other loss, or is otherwise, abused or neglected by a parent.  It can be a path that can help them obtain their lawful permanent residence, which is often a good alternative to asylum or adoption proceedings.  However, several factual findings must be made by a State “Juvenile Court” prior to filing the application with US CIS. 

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-US/eb4/SIJ